The idea that selfhood is performed has a very long tradition. Action, agency in contemporary jargon, has been seen as a revelation of the self, as the realization of the self, as constituent of the self, and as self-discovery. Selfhood is dialogic, expressive, reactionary, mimetic, and creative. All of these conceptions of self, and many others, elaborate complex theories of otherness, society, history, ideology, truth, and the good. This seminar will explore some of these issues with particular reference to literary representations of the self and our interpretive interactions with certain texts. The contexts of our explorations will range widely from canonical literary texts to popular culture, from the Renaissance to the Postmodern, from sociological and psychological discourses to the internet.

One long seminar project and several short discovery projects will be required. Each student will also prepare a brief abstract of the long project that will be published as part of the classLiterary Theory Page.

The following texts should be available in the Campus Store. Some other works will be provided or found on the Web.

Shakespeare, HAMLET

Stoppard, ROSENCRANTZ AND GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD

Mary Shelley, FRANKENSTEIN

Sartre, THE WORDS

Oscar Wilde, THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY

Shaw, PYGMALION

Barnes, NIGHTWOOD

Faulkner,THE SOUND AND THE FURY

Butler, GENDER TROUBLE

Foucault, THE HISTORY OF SEXUALITY,vol. I

Lyotard, JUST GAMING

Students should also explore the following Web pages and related links. Specific assignments will be made during the semester.